Today, Apple announced a new milestone of five billion (yes billion with a "b") songs sold through its iTunes network. The company also said it's selling or renting 50,000 movies a day, indicating a huge increase in online media retail sales.

Digital Journal -- In a press release issued to media today, Apple announced it's sold more than five billion songs through its iTunes Store.

The company says it is No. 1 in the online music retailer scene, with more than eight million songs available in its music catalogue. Apple also boasts a library of more than 20,000 TV episodes and more than 2,000 movies.

In addition to music sales, Apple says customers are now renting movies at an alarming rate through its iTunes service, purchasing or renting more than 50,000 flicks every day. Apple says that also makes it the most popular online movie rental store. No doubt that somewhere in the world, Netflix and Blockbuster executives are dying of hunger because Apple is clearly eating their lunch.

As CNN Money reports, the rate at which Apple is growing is noteworthy:

It took Apple (AAPL) nearly three years to sell its first billion songs (Feb 23, 2006), ten months to sell its second billion (Jan. 6, 2007), seven months to sell its third (July 31, 2007) and fourth billion (Feb. 27, 2008), and only three and a half months to sell its fifth (June 19, 2008).